The art installation, in Max-Joseph Platz, Munich, Germany, was held to mark the opening of the 2012 Munich summer opera season, according to information supplied with these photographs by Luca Teuchmann, a Getty Images contributor.

The Bavarian State Opera invited American photographer Spencer Tunick to create the photographs as part of the opening of the 2012 Munich summer opera season Saturday.

"Tunick's installations encompass dozens, hundreds or thousands of volunteers; and his photographs are record of these events," the website says.

"The individuals en masse, without their clothing, grouped together metamorphose into a new shape. The bodies extend into and upon the landscape, like a substance," it adds. "These grouped masses, which do no underscore sexuality, become abstractions that challenge or reconfigure one's views of nudity and privacy."

Luca Teuchmann / Getty Images Contributor

Naked volunteers form up in red and gold columns in Max-Joseph Platz Munich, Germany.